How do I pay the tuition fee?

Student Finance Tuition Fee Loan

Checkthe ‘Overview’ tablesat the start of this guide to see whether you are eligible for a Tuition Fee Loan to pay all or part of your tuition fee. This will depend on your course, the year that you are in, and the year that you started.

You will need to repay your Tuition Fee Loan in the future. See the Loan Repaymentssection later in this Advice Guide.

There is no age limit on taking a Tuition Fee Loan and it is not income assessed. The money will be paid directly to QMUL on your behalf, in three instalments:

At the start of semester A - 25% of the tuition fee

At the start of semester B - 25% of the tuition fee

At the start of the exam period - 50% of the tuition fee

You need to bring the ‘University and university payment advice page’ of your Student Finance Entitlement letter to the Enrolment Centre when you go to enrol, to show that you are getting a Tuition Fee Loan.

I am paying my own tuition fee

For any amount of tuition fee that you are going to pay for yourself, you will need to sign a payment agreement before enrolment. 25% of the tuition fee which is not going to be paid for with a Tuition Fee Loan will be payable by enrolment, and the remaining balance will be payable in seven monthly instalments between October and April.

If you plan to pay the tuition fee yourself, but you find you cannot afford to do this, you can still apply for a Tuition Fee Loan later. For the academic year 2018/19 you must apply to Student Finance England for the tuition fee loan by the deadline of 31st May 2019. However, QMUL will expect you to keep up with your tuition fee payments until your Tuition Fee Loan is processed by SFE. Once your Tuition Fee Loan is processed, you can apply to the Fees Office for a refund of the tuition fee you have paid yourself.

How much is the tuition fee if I leave or take time out of my course?

The Advice and Counselling Service Advice GuideInterrupting, Resitting or Leaving your course: A guide for home and EU studentsexplains how much tuition fee you will be liable for if you interrupt or leave – this is determined by the date of interruption or leaving. As soon as you enrol you are liable for 25% of the tuition fee. The advice guide also explains how much tuition fee you will be liable for when you resume your studies following an interruption.

Tuition Fee Loans paid in error

As this guide explains, there are certain years when students studying medicine as a graduate are not eligible for Tuition Fee Loans. For example, GEP students are only eligible for a partial Tuition Fee Loan in their first year and graduates on the 5 year programme are not eligible at all in years 1 - 4.

Sometimes, Student Finance England (SFE) pays a Tuition Fee Loan in error, or awards a full Tuition Fee Loan instead of a partial loan. Once SFE realises that it has made an error, it will normally reclaim the Tuition Fee Loan/s back from QMUL, meaning that you now owe QMUL the tuition fees personally. If you owe QMUL tuition fees, you will not normally be allowed to progress to your next year of study, or graduate if you are in your final year.

Academic years 2015/16 onwards:

The Student Finance regulations have now been changed so that if SFE mistakenly pays a Tuition Fee Loan for academic years 15/16 onwards, you can still receive the loan if:

You have provided SFE with all the information required about the qualifications you already hold and;

That information is accurate and;

SFE has provided written notification that you are eligible for a Tuition Fee Loan.

If SFE agrees, before 1 September immediately before the first year of your MBBS / GEP, that all of the conditions above have been met, you will be able to take out the Tuition Fee Loan for the first academic year of your medical programme. If SFE agrees, on or after this date, that all of the above conditions have been met, you will be able to take the Tuition Fee Loan in the year that this agreement happens, and for the academic year immediately before this. If this applies to you, contact SFE and explain that you meet the provisions set out above. If this does not resolve the situation, contact a Welfare Adviser in the QMULAdvice and Counselling Service, who can provide you with a letter to send to SFE.

If SFE agrees that you have exceptional circumstances, it can award you Tuition Fee Loans for the duration of the course. You would need to demonstrate exceptional circumstances to SFE. Exceptional circumstances might include issues such as financial hardship e.g. it may be that if SFE takes the loans already granted away, or fails to provide promised loans, it would cause you severe financial hardship and prevent you from completing your medical degree. We suggest that you contact a Welfare Adviser in the QMUL Advice and Counselling Service if you wish to present your exceptional circumstances to SFE. They can help you with your application and will normally provide a letter for you to send to SFE.

Academic years before 2015/16 and years not covered by the rules above

You might find that the provision in the section above does not meet your needs. For example:

You may have started the 5 year programme in good faith that Tuition Fee Loans would be available for years 1-4

You might have had a Tuition Fee Loan paid to you in error for academic years prior to 2015/16.

In circumstances like these, you can submit aformal complaint to SFEto complain about the effect that their error has had on you, and to ask for financial compensation to cover the amount of outstanding Tuition Fee Loans. You might find that the following issues are relevant to you and, if so, you may wish to include them in your formal complaint to SFE:

Their error may have caused you severe financial hardship e.g. it may be that if SFE takes the loans already granted away, it would cause you severe financial hardship and prevent you from completing your medical degree. You will need to explain what access, if any, you have to alternative funds to pay your tuition fees, and also explain the time, money and personal commitment and ambition that you have already invested in your studies and that this will all be wasted if you are unable to complete your degree due to the SFE error

It is likely that you applied to SFE for funding in good faith, and could reasonably expect that their decision to award you a Tuition Fee Loan would be correct

It is likely that you embarked on your degree relying on the funding that SFE awarded you and, as such, you should not be expected to suffer financial, academic and personal consequences because an error outside your control was made

We suggest that you contact a Welfare Adviser in the QMULAdvice and Counselling Serviceif you wish to make a formal complaint. They can help you with your application and advise you about the supporting documents (e.g. bank statements) that you will need to provide as evidence to support the case that you are making to SFE, and they will normally provide a letter for you to send to SFE along with your complaint.

Disclaimer:Law, regulations and policies can change quickly. The information on our website is given in good faith and has been carefully checked but QMUL cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions. QMUL is not responsible for the content or reliability of the linked websites which are provided for further information.